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New to me Ultratec M120

Started by Sigmaz, February 02, 2018, 04:08:48 PM

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Sigmaz

Today I met up with my installer friend.
He had some parts I needed and since he was in the area I met up with him between jobs.

After a few mins of idle chit-chat he opened the back of his truck to put something away.
That's when I saw that he had a TDD (TTY) drawer laying on it's side mixed with waste wire and bashed up upper housing armour.

I asked him what he was going to do with it and he replied "junk it".
Of course I asked if I could have it and he said 'Sure, take it.'

I got it back to my office and opened it up.
Sadly the screws are missing that hold the shell on and the harness that runs between the interface board and the TTY unit is MIA as well.

I was however able to figure out which pins on the device are B+/B- and Tip/Ring.

Armed with my new found knowledge I applied 12v to the assumed power jumper and clipped my Harris butt set to what I assumed were the t/r pins in monitor mode.

I crossed my fingers and flipped on the PSU. A few seconds later the tray opened and the VFD displayed the model number and checksum.

After the self test a message flashed onto the screen stating that the drawer was about to close.

I hit a key on the keyboard and it squawked out some FSK through my butt set speaker.

I banged on the keys a little then let it sit idle.
A few mins later the drawer shut on it's own.

So cool that it still works. Now I just need someone to chat with on it. Lol

I'll get it all wired up and mounted to my L-31a soon enough...


Sigmaz

Awwwe... darn.

It's much too deep to mount under the L-31a enclosure.

Darn.. I was hoping to put it under there.

Oh well.

HarrySmith

If that is what you really want to do I am sure you can fabricate a bracket to make it work.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

Sigmaz

Mounting it really isn't much of a problem, It's that it sticks out too far for my liking.

I just searched and have seen other installations now.
Yeah on the L-31 they stick out pretty far.

I guess I'll put it away and keep it for a larger wall mount shelf enclosure setup.

Payphone installer

There is another housing that the housing you have slides into that mounts on to the L31 and matches up to the 4 holes of a origanal L31 which most folks do not have. The TTD is activived by calling the TTD service available in every state. You reach it by way of a 1800 number or a 1700 number. When you dial the number on the payphone it answers and sends the command from the TTD operator to open the drawer. When the drawer opens the operator will be there waiting for you to type she will usually will reach out to you by typing how can I help you. In the TTD world there is a phrase they use at the end of each message which I can not remember. It is similar in the radio world to the word "over". The TTD was a extremely rugged unit and they had to be deployed at a three payphone locations or more. They cost 2,000 each new back in the day. Now hand held devices have replaced them. The name of the service is Relay Service and is required by law as a result of the American Disability Act.

Sigmaz

#5
My L-31A has 4 holes but they don't line up with the pre-drilled ones in the TTY shell.
I guess I would need that adapter? or to redrill.

There is also an online relay service that you can log into with your PC (used to be able to) and have them call the hearing able person for you.
I remember playing with the relay service when I was younger. you know making them repeat dirty words and stuff.

I think I remember being instructed to say "Go Ahead" when I was done writing strings upon strings of insults and profanity
As a matter of a fact, There is a key marked "GA".

I had them call my friend and I would mess with him on it.. things change, and now there are strict rules against that kind of stuff.

From reading and playing with this thing it opens up initially whenever it detects an FSK squawk sent down the line.
That's why they say that if the timeout occurs and the unit alerts you that its going to close they recommend that you simply hit any key to extend the session time.
With TTY there is no error checking or a carrier established like a computer modem session.
The characters are sent one at a time using FSK signalling so if you or the other side are not typing the timeout clock begins. At least that's the way this one seems to work.

Anyway, Physically speaking, the shell of this TTY drawer is 11.5" deep but the shelf on my L-31a is only about 8" deep and it doesnt really fit under the enclosure because the back of  the TTY drawer hits the pedestal.

I'd imagine if this was a wall mounted enclosure it would be fine.
Especially since there would then be an extra 2.5-3" before the wall would interfere.

Then only a little .5" would be sticking out.

Then again.. maybe not,
But on a lighter note, my TTY unit came out of Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital which is a fairly famous lunatic asylum.